Do you use the General Retention and Disposal Schedule for Administrative Records (GRDS) to sentence your records? Is it easy to use and does it cover all of the common and administrative records you create?

We’re seeking your feedback on these questions and more as we overhaul the GRDS.

The basic schedule format and structure of the GRDS have remained the same for the past 17 years. We’ve looked at how other archival jurisdictions use and implement general schedules and it is clear that we are not alone in experiencing appraisal and disposal challenges, especially in the digital world. As we explore the GRDS, no consistent approach has yet been adopted across Australasian archival authorities.

With growing volumes of records across public authorities it is more pressing than ever to strike the right balance around keeping and disposing of records.

We want you to think about:

the challenges you face in implementing the GRDS

the structure, format, numbering and disposal triggers

what records should be covered by the GRDS

if, and why, your public authority keeps records longer than needed.

We have identified 5 key challenges with some possible solutions which are listed in our discussion paper. Watch our introductory Powtoon and then read our Discussion Paper to learn more about the challenges and how you can help us shape the GRDS.

The release of the GRDS Renewal discussion paper is just the start of the conversation to help us develop a simple and relevant tool for all public authorities that is easy to implement.

We will be using a variety of communication methods to continue the conversation about the renewal program. Look out for further blog posts, tweets and LISTSERV messages. Feel free to send us any feedback, comments or questions as we work together to improve the GRDS. Check out our GRDS Renewal Page regularly for more information as the project progresses.

We’ll be keeping the conversation going until 27 February 2015 when the real work on improving the GRDS will start!

If you would like to provide immediate feedback on the discussion paper please provide comments below or email us at rkqueries@archives.qld.gov.au

If you would like a chat, give us a call on (07) 3131 7777 and we can organise a suitable time to talk through your feedback.

Each week in the lead up to Christmas, we will be releasing blogs on each of the challenges for you to comment on. So here we go!

Challenge 1: Record classes

Finding the correct record class can be confusing because some activities only occur once in the schedule and are not repeated under each function, even though they may relate to more than one function.

For example, advice, committees, agreements, and audits are activities that may fall under multiple functions, but they only appear once or twice in the GRDS.

Let us know your thoughts on this challenge. Let’s get the conversation started!